Akshay Kumar can’t match up to Aamir Khan

Director Shirish Kunder would’ve never attempted to play the telly show ‘Are you smarter than a fifth grader’, only because he understands his limitations.

Yet, he’d go ahead, and unabashedly flaunt his ignorance by making an absolutely ridiculous film that even a fifth grader would balk at.

Seriously, was he thinking?

A tale about a scientific researcher, who cooks up inane stories about spaceships and aliens only to get his native village its rightful position on the Indian map, is seriously inane.

And, he randomly throws in a motley collection of eccentric clowns, dressed in strange costumes that would leave even creatures from outer space extremely distressed, to tickle us.

His desperation is evident in his illogical narrative and lack of originality.

He borrowed costumes, characters and situations from other bigger blockbusters like ‘Lagaan’, ‘Peepli Live’, ‘Koi Mil Gaya’, ‘Bol Bachchan’, and ‘Golmaal’, and made an utter mess of it.

His attempt at piggybacking on his famous wife and director Farah Khan with a strange cameo also fails.

Among the lead cast, we watch, helplessly, as Akshay Kumar pulls out every trick in the trade to salvage the film. What can we say, he’s no Aamir Khan!

His ladylove Sonakshi Sinha continues to infuriate us with her strange dance moves and ‘Dabangg’-inspired ethnic get-up. Surely novelty is something she refuses to give prominence to.

If anyone, we feel for Shreyas Talapade, who takes on Tusshar Kapoor’s famed gibberish act earnestly, but not enough to impress. He must refrain from dumbing down his talent in such an inglorious way.

There are a few others, in the supporting cast, who succeed in evoking a smile on our face, but those rare cases are far too few.

If there’s someone who does walk away a winner in this turkey, it is the ever-gorgeous Chitrangada Singh, who sizzles the screen with her Madhuri-Dixit-inspired item jig.

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